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Apollo Midi for Bluetooth
I'm sure many here already know this... but I didn't. Fairly new to midi stuff and have apps that I could could ONLY connect if I was running a wireless Network Session on my wifi network.
Had to do this if I wanted to use the Sound Design soft midi controller to control midi cc for the x/y pad in BitWiz.
Yesterday, I was wondering if there was any other way to connect up legacy midi apps without having to use my wifi network.
The first app I found and evidently one of the best is Apollo Midi for Bluetooth by @SecretBaseDesign which happened to be on sale too. 
I think it still is, and it was definitely $2 well spent.
It's easy to use too. It's universal, so I just launch it on my iPhone and the iPad. You select one as the A device and the other as the B device, then connect. Easy-peasy. After than you've got a little bluetooth Network Session called "Apollo".
I was able to use my iPhone running my Midi Designer soft controller to control BitWiz's x/y pads and Fieldscaper running on the iPad without running a local wireless wifi Network Session.
Also, I used this to have SunVox running on my iPad drive VirtualANS as a synth input running on the iPhone. Before I could only do with using a local wifi Network session. Now I don't need to and it's very fast/responsive as well.
They have a free MacOS app too so that you can midi connect your desktop via bluetooth, but I haven't tried that yet.
The only trouble I'm having... and this may not even be possible... is that when I have SunVox running on the iPad and driving a Synth like VirtualANS running on the iPhone, it only takes the midi tracker data. I don't get anything from the FX modules.
It seems that once I've set up a little bluetooth network session with Apollo, I should be able to connect a SunVox input to a synth like VirtualANS running on the same device (iPad). They both show the Apollo network, but it doesn't seem to work that way... unless I'm doing something wrong. Only works if the apps I'm connecting are on separate devices, but I'm able to do it via wifi Network session.
Anyone know what I might be doing wrong? Or, is this not possible?
Comments
Hmm -- are the MIDI channels set up correctly (and the various apps listening to the right channels/virtual MIDI)?
Apollo just sends MIDI that comes in on one side, out to the destinations you specify on the other. There are some apps that only listen to CoreMIDI -- might try toggling that on (for the device that is receiving MIDI), to see if that gets things through.
To be clear... it all works as expected IF I'm trying to connect SunVox running on my iPad to a synth called VirtualANS on my iPhone. The midi signals get sent, and the synth starts playing on the iPhone, ie. between devices
What I'm asking is... once you've set up a bluetooth midi session network, can I have SunVox midi play the VirtualANS synth that's ALSO (or instead of) on my iPad, instead of the iPhone?
I ask this because when I do this same thing via a wifi Network Session from my home network, I can. I thought maybe it'd work the same way with an Apollo Bluetooth network.
Ahh -- ok, I see. Short answer is "not with Apollo alone."
MIDI that gets sent in to Apollo gets forwarded across Bluetooth to the other side (and distributed to the toggled on destinations). So -- SunVox sends MIDI to Apollo, and then that jumps to the other device. Apollo (on the first device) does not distribute MIDI that comes in to apps running on that device.
An app like MIDI Bridge (which I highly recommend) would take care of this -- send MIDI from SunVox to MIDI Bridge, and then have that forward the MIDI to both Apollo and the VirtualANS running on the iPad.
Ok... that's what I figured, but I wasn't sure that it sort of only runs from device to device... though, it says that clearly in the app description.
thx
@SecretBaseDesign curious... could Midiflow do exactly what I'm describing all by itself with no need for a wifi Network Session OR bluetooth network? (ie. can I have SunVox midi signal play the VirtualANS synth that's ALSO on the same iPad by routing through Midiflow alone)
Never mind. Bought Midiflow and its doing everything I needed & described above, including the Bluetooth device to device control as well. Looks like I didn't actually need Apollo after all. Is there anything Apollo can do that Midiflow can't also do?
@skiphunt -- I don't use MidiFlow, so I don't know if it would work or not. And actually, I don't use SunVox or VirtualANS either, so I'm sort of flying blind. I'm primarily a MidiBridge user when I need fancy MIDI routing; AFAIK, MidiFlow emulates most of what MidiBridge does, so they're probably similar.
Apollo provided inter-device MIDI over Bluetooth about a year before Apple created their stuff, and baked it into iOS -- so there's support for earlier devices (both iOS and earlier Macs). In my testing, it seems like Apollo has just ever so slightly lower latency than the Apple solution (we're talking a couple of ms at best, and really freakin' hard to measure). I think that MIDIflow is just piggy-backing on the Bluetooth support that was added by Apple.
Ok. Thank you. I've tried all of the scenarios I wanted to be able to midi connect, primarily between apps that only connect via wifi midi network session as I described... and Midiflow connects in every scenario including bluetooth between devices. I thought maybe Apollo had an advance in the use of your free OSX app for connecting between iOS and OSX, but it appears I can do that via Midiflow as well. So, it looks like Midiflow is all I really needed.
I did compare an OSX/iOS connection of Apollo BT using Orphino as a controller for a synth in Logic Pro X with doing the same connection via Midiflow, and I did notice that the Apollo BT connection seemed perceptibly faster and more responsive.
Thank you for the detailed reply.
Hi @skiphunt, regarding the above, I think you're mixing up two separate things. Midi is just note and controller data (like pressing keys and twiddling dials), not audio. SunVox's tracker is generating those messages and sending them out via it's Midi out ability. Its FX modules put out audio (sound), not Midi. You would pick up the audio stream in something like AudioBus or AUM, not Midiflow or Apollo, which only handle Note and Controller data.
Not mixed up I don't think. I'm actually talking about both. Basically, I wanted to connect a SunVox input to a synth like SpectrumGen on the same device. The synths that have midi notes in/out work fine, but some like SpectrumGen, PixelWave, Virtual ANS don't. The ONLY way I've been able to get it to work was via setting up a wifi midi Network Session.
The same goes for controlling BitWiz running in AUM and wanting to control the X/Y pad via Midi CC using MidiDesigner. The ONLY way I could get them to connect was by setting up a wifi midi Network Session. I went over this months ago on the Kymatica site trying to figure it out. Someone over there mentioned midiflow but I didn't understand well enough to go that route at the time.
Then I discovered Apollo that would at least allow me to send the notes generated by SunVox running on the iPad to SpectrumGen running on the iPhone via BT network using Apollo. But I couldn't do it on the same device as SecretBaseDesign confirmed. Only device to device without the use of yet another app.
Finally came full circle to the original suggestion to use midiflow and now EVERYTHING I've been trying to connect for weeks is easy-peasy without a need for a wifi midi Network Session. Believe me, I've asked at least a dozen people how I might do this. I may be mixing up my terms, but I have not mixed up the function. Thanks tho.
Ah! Wait... just reread what you're saying. you're referring to an earlier post where I was ALSO throwing in the SunVox FX modules into the mix. Yes, you're correct... I was indeed mixed up. Thanks! I'd given up on that component and was just trying to connect the aforementioned synths alone, as well as a virtual midi cc controller running on a separate device, which Midiflow solved for me. I was about to move onto the FX modules next. Any other correction, advice, or clarification you might have is much appreciated and welcome. Thanks again.
Nope, no other advice.
I remembered one other post in a different thread where it sounded like the distinction between audio and midi wasn't totally clear, so I thought I'd chime in. -Cheers.
Yes, you are correct. I've mostly been confused about midi stuff for the last few weeks but I'm getting better.
I try to ask those who sound like they know much more about midi than I do, but I don't get replies so I have to try to figure it out on my own for the most part with the few morsels of info I can garner here and there. Mostly I end up fumbling around in the dark with trail and error until I figure it out. It frustrating for sure, but I do what I can.
Well, once you master those two, you'll need to start looking into sub-harmonic inversion layer routing. Its somewhat difficult to get a handle on, and the iOS implementation is a bit rocky at this point, but the potential is beyond imagining.
What the what?! I just had to Google search what that is. LOL Crikey! Fascinating, but baby steps.